True Love
by America Singer
Summary: Set after Frostbite.What if being shadow kissed allows Rose to get pregnant with another dhampir?Weeks before Rose's graduation,Dimitri and Rose start falling more and more in love.Feeling that things have gone too far, Dimitri pushes her away. After struggling to control his feelings for her,he agrees to be Tasha's guardian and leave Rose, not knowing about her pregnancy.
1. Chapter 1

Rose POV

I woke up with Dimitri's arms around me, holding me , I turned my head slightly to look at him, he was still sleeping with a peaceful look on his face. Last night's events flashed through my mind and made me shiver with pleasure. I gently pulled off Dimitri's arms and climbed off the bed to survey myself in the long mirror opposite Dimitri's bed.

I ran a hand through my messy hair and picked up my dark blue tank top , jeans and black thong from the floor and slipped them on. Behind me, Dimitri stirred and sat up on his bed. I turned and smiled at him, expecting him to give me one of those rare smiles of his that I loved, but he didn't.

"Rose." He frowned at me, reaching sideways to pick up his clothes. My heart fell when he didn't call me Roza. "You have to go." He put them on quickly without giving me a chance to give his wonderful muscular chest another look. He put his serious mentor look on and looked at me sternly "Rose, you have to go."

Seeing that look , I was hurt. He hadn't shown that to me in weeks. Ever since the day he had told me that he said no to Tasha , he started giving me kisses now and then and expressions that showed that he really truly cared about me. Especially after last night, he can't just shut me out again now. "But…." I trailed off , staring at him. "We've done this before." I remembered the first time we had slept together, the night I lost my virginity to the man I loved.

"It was a mistake Rose. We went to far. I can't do this. I'm sorry." He walked over to the door and opened it for me.

I looked down at the floor, feeling tears well in my eyes. I can't cry in front of him. I can't. I won't. An uncomfortable silence settled in the room.

" You know…it was my first time. I only did it because… I love you." I finally whispered and looked up at him.

Regret and longing flashed in his eyes but it didn't stay for long. "I'm sorry." He finally said.

I stared at him,anger swelling up inside me. "Sorry? Is that all you're going to say? Do you have any idea what you mean to me? Do you even care about my feelings?" I started to shout.

"Rose!" I started to reach towards me but stopped. "You know, sometimes in life-"

"No!" I said, trying to keep my voice calm. " No more zen life lessons. I'm out of here." I huffed and turned around, running out the door and slamming the door behind me. I ran and ran, I didn't know where I was going or what I was going to do but i kept going.

The sky was dark and there were stars shinning everywhere which meant that school was probably starting soon. I decided not to go to far. It wasn't going to let Dimitri call me childish or whatever for bunking classes. I found a nice oak tree and sat down against it. I finally let the tears come, and the pain, even more painful that when my mom punched me and gave me a black eye.

When I was out of tears and numb from sitting in the cold, I went back to my room. I skipped breakfast to take a shower and put on some makeup. I put on a black halter top and skinny jeans. Looking into the mirror, I turned slightly and looked at my Molnija marks. I remembered Dimitri kissing them last night and telling me that he loved me. On the day I took off the bandage, he had kissed them too. Since that day, I had always worn my hair up just in case he wanted to kiss my neck or anything. But we're over now… if there even was a 'we'. I sighed and let my hair cover up the marks.

"Rose!" Someone banged on my door. It was Lissa. Through the bond, I could feel excitement.

I put on a fake smile and opened the door for her. "Hey." I said as cheerily as I could.

She walked in grinning with Christian trailing behind her. " Rose!" She grabbed my hand and put a shopping bag in my hand.

I gave her a puzzled look. "Mia asked me to give this to you as a thank you present."

I smiled, feeling slightly happier that she was joyful. "Thanks."

"Oh yeah." She took Christian's hand and he kissed her cheek which made me feel like crying all over again. "Tasha's going away soon. She's having a goodbye dinner tonight. You're invited. Wear Mia's dress. You'll look great in it."

"Oh…" I tried to keep my voice nonchalant as I said " Is…D…Dimitri going?"

"Yeah. I think so. Christian told me that she's going to ask him to be her guardian. Isn't it great? You'll finally get some free time before graduating!" She smiled widely and took my arm.

My heart twisted painfully. " ." I nodded and quietly followed her out the door.

"Sorry Eddie." I said when morning practice ended. I had been kicking his ass for the past thirty minutes, having been taking my anger on Dimitri out on him.

"It's alright." He said quietly. He had been like that ever since the strigoi thing and Mason's death.

"You sure you're ok?" I tossed my hair over my shoulder and huffed tiredly, feeling some of my anger go away.

"Yeah." He said quietly again and walked away without a word. I eyed the bruises and cuts on his arm and shook my head. This kid needed serious therapy.

"Those are very intriguing. You are very intriguing." A low voice said from behind me.

I groaned and spun around to face Adrian. "Gosh!" I cried "Will you just leave me alone?"

"Do you want me to?" He gazed down at me with sparkling green eyes. "You know you want me to stay with you."

For some weird reason, part of me wanted him to leave and part of me didn't. I gritted my teeth " I swear if you're using compulsion on me, I'll beat the crap out of you."

"I'm not. It's all you. Admit it. You want me."

"You wish." I scoffed and shoved his shoulder as hard as I could, not caring if I hurt him. He stumbled backwards but not a lot. Stepping around him, I made my way out of the door.

The rest of my classes passed in a blur. I didn't give any snarky comments that day and stayed quiet in my seat , just listening and thinking about Dimitri.

Lissa and Christian made out in the library during lunch , leaving me wandering the halls alone. I passed Dimitri and Tasha outside the library , he gave me a slight nod and Tasha said hello but I just ignored them and walked away.

After school, I went to Lissa's room, wanting to talk to her, but judging from the moans coming from inside her room, Christian was inside too and it was best that I didn't interrupt them. Feeling lonelier than ever and missing Mason terribly, I trudged back to my room.

I had a quick shower and let my wet hair hang down my bare back as I walked out of the bathroom to search for a dress to wear to Tasha's dinner. I found the shopping bag Lissa had given me in the morning and pulled out a gorgeous satin red dress. It was strapless and floor length with slits at the sides and a sweetheart neckline. It looked a bit too fancy for a dinner but I wanted to look my best tonight and show Dimitri what he had lost.

I was putting on my lingerie when someone knocked on my door. It wasn't Lissa. "Don't come in." I warned whoever was outside.

"Look Roza. I know you're angry but…" Dimitri opened the door and his jaw dropped to the floor. I froze and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Oh. Sorry." Dimitri mumbled, starting to turn away.

"Wait!" I called. "You called me Roza." I said stupidly. Gosh. What am I doing? I should tell him to get the hell out! I'm naked for god's sake! Why am I telling him to wait?

He turned around and I could see the hunger in his eyes. Hunger for me. "Roza." His voice was pained. I walked over to him slowly.

"Dimitri."I put a hand on his cheek." Please. You don't know how much I need you."

He started to lean down but hesitated. "No." He pushed me back. "We can't do this. You're becoming a real guardian soon. You know why we can't do this."

I hung my head low. Of course I do. We needed to protect Lissa , our feelings had to be locked away somewhere deep inside if we wanted to keep her safe. I slammed the door in Dimitri's face and walked into the bathroom to blow dry my hair.

The dress Mia had given me totally rocked. It clung to my curves perfectly and the slits showed off my slim legs. I put on Lissa's chotki and walked out the door. Lissa had told me that the dinner was being held in Christian's room.

I've never been to his room before and was surprised when I found it neat and with white wallpaper. I had expected black everywhere but actually, he didn't have a lot of black stuff. "Hey." I nodded at Tasha and Dimitri sitting together and walked over to sit beside Lissa. I could feel Dimitri staring at me but I refused to look at him.

"You look great."

I spun around, gasping when I saw Adrian in the corner. "Hmm…" Lissa shifted beside me. I could feel her uneasiness through the bond. "Um Rose. I think I forgot to tell you that Adrian was coming."

"What the hell?" I stared at him. " Damn it! Why are you everywhere?"

He smirked and walked over to sit beside me. "Glad to see me?"

I rolled my eyes. " You don't know how glad I am to see you." I said sarcastically. Looking up at Tasha, I stole a glance at Dimitri, his hair was combed and he was wearing an expensive looking sweater, god he looked amazing. "Um. When are we going to start eating?"

She smiled at me " You can dig in now." She gestured at the plates of pastas in front of us. She took Dimitri's hand and gazed into his eyes "Dimka. I really hope you consider what I asked you.

I choked on a bite of pasta. "Not very delicious." I mumbled.

Lissa kicked me under the table to shut me up. "I'm sorry Rose. But it's all I have." Tasha said apologetically,

"Hmm.." Lissa shot me a warning glance. "Whatever. It's ok."I huffed and returned to eating.

"Dimka." Tasha said "Please."

I bit down on the hard silver spoon as I waited for his answer. .No.

"Rose?" He suddenly said.

"Hmm?" I was suddenly super excited. Is he going to apologise and tell me that he doesn't want to leave me?

"I need you to come outside with me." He turned to Tasha. " I just remembered that Rose stole my silver stake this morning." What the hell? "It's really important." He squeezed her hand. " Wait for me."

I rolled my eyes and followed him out the door. I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms"What?"I snapped.

"I'm saying yes."

I swallowed hard. "Ok."

"I'm sorry Roza." His hand brushed my arm and he pulled it back quickly. "Stay away from Adrian. He's very dangerous."

"Just stop talking!" I shouted at him. "You don't get to tell me what to do! I can do whatever I want with Adrian and it's none of your business! Go have fun with Tasha!" I stormed into the room and grabbed Lissa. "We have to go."

"Where you guys going?" Tasha asked worriedly.

"To stake a dummy with brown eyes." I snarled, startling Lissa.

"You okay?" She asked me as we walked down the hall towards my room.

"Yeah." I suddenly felt dizzy. The world spun and the last thing I remembered was Lissa shouting my name.

I woke up with a major headache and nausea. Dr Olendzki was staring at me with a weird expression. "What?" I asked "Do I have cancer or something?"

"Well." Dr Olendzki rubbed her hands together nervously " I need you to answer my questions truthfully.

"God. Are you going to ask me stupid questions like what my name is again? Look. I don't have a concussion ok?"

She looked slightly embarrassed "Actually, I was going to ask you something else."

I yawned. "Go ahead."

"Are you sexually active?"

I stared at her open mouthed "Are you serious?"

"Yes. From the tests i've run on you, it shows that you're…pregnant."

" funny." I rolled my eyes and sat up. " You have a horrible sense of humour."

"I'm serious." She said.

"But i'm a dhampir! I've only slept with a dahmpir!" I cried.

"Yes. But you're shadow kissed. You're different."

I was dizzy all over again. "I have to go." I croaked. Pushing off the blankets and standing up. Dr Olendzki tried to stop me but I was stronger than her. I ran to Dimitri's room and banged on the door.

"Miss Hathaway?" A tall guardian I didn't recognise walked over to me. "Guardian Belikov is gone."

"What do you mean gone? Gone? With Tasha?"

"Yes. Do you need anything?"

"No." I turned around and hurried out the door. What was I going to do? I was pregnant with Dimitri's baby , but he was gone, off to have other babies with Tasha. A tear slid down my cheek and I broke into a sprint. I knocked two guards unconscious at the east entrance of the school and ran outside.

I was going to go back of course , I still needed to protect Lissa , but I desperately wanted some time to gather my thoughts and cool off.

Dimitri POV

I hadn't driven far from school when Paul called me and told me that a student was missing. "Who's missing?" I asked him. Tasha looked at me questioningly.

"Wait. Oh yeah. Rose Hathaway. She knocked down the guards at the east entrance. You should come back and help find her. Most of our guardians are with the Principle on her trip. I heard there's a lot of Strigoi around the east entrance. The s-" I slammed the phone shut and tossed it away. I swerved the car around sped back to school.

"Dimka. What is it?" Tasha asked.

"Call Christian." I told her.

She didn't question me further and called Christian. "Um. What do you want to ask?"

"Ask him what happened with Rose."

Tasha's eyes widened after awhile.

"What is it?" I snapped.

"Christian said that the nurse told him that she's pregnant." She rubbed her eyes. " God. I hope the poor girl's ok. Do you think it's Adrian's."

I ignored her as we neared the school. I rushed out of the car as soon as it stopped without bothering to help Tasha out. I ran up to Adrian's room and found him sitting on the bed writing some sort of note. I grabbed it and read it:

Dear Rose,

You looked devastatingly beautiful last night,

I crumpled the paper up and threw it away. I shoved Adrian against the wall and growled " I told you to stay away from her!"

"Hey." He croaked. "I didn't do anything to her."

"She's pregnant!" I spat , disgust in my voice. "What were you thinking? She's just a student!"

Adrian frowned " We didn't have sex. I swear."

I slowly let go of him. Did Rose sleep with another Moroi? No. She wouldn't. No.

I have to find her. She's not pregnant.

Rose POV

"Hello." A tall man stepped out of the shadows. " You're a pretty little sweetheart." He was strigoi, red ringed his pupils.

"Stay away." I go into defence mode, cursing myself for not bringing along a silver stake for protection. I can't die just before graduation. I glanced around for a weapon.

The strigoi lunged at me. God. He was fast. I nearly got my head knocked off but managed to duck as he tried to punch me. I kicked him in the guts , earning a small grunt form him. He looked pretty old and strong.

He noticed that I noticed and smiled evilly " Give up , little dhampir. You can't kill me."

"I'm not so sure." I kicked him again and grabbed a rock with a sharp jagged edge. I aimed it at his chest and shoved it in to his flesh, I was just getting to his heart when I head someone shout my name.

It was him.

The strigoi bellowed in rage and kicked me away. I landed on my back with an oomph and all the air rushed out of me. He picked the rock out of his chest and walked towards me with a smug smile.

I tried to stand up but my arms and legs wouldn't work.

"Rose!"

He was closer now. I must be in heaven.

"Rose!" Dimitri's scent wafted into my nose and I looked up. He flashed into my sight with a silver dagger and plunged it into the strigoi's heart with one swift motion.

"Dimitri!" I cried.

"Roza!" He ran to my side and knelt down. "Roza."

A sharp pain shot through my stomach " My baby." I gasped, clutching my abdomen.

His face darkened " It's true. Whose is it?"

I wasn't going to tell him since he was Tasha's guardian now but I couldn't think up any names and the pain in my stomach wasn't helping. "Damn it! It's Mason's ok?" I groaned through the pain.

"He's a dhampir and you already told me that nothing happened between you too." Dimitri shook his head " Who is it?"

The shooting pain in my stomach worsened and I screamed " It's you! You're the only one i've slept with !For god's sake! Take me to Dr Olendzki!

I'm gonna die!"

He gathered me in his arms and ran back towards school. "How?" He asked.

"I'm shadow kissed." I say through gritted.

He kissed my forehead "I'm sorry Roza. Really. Hold on. We're almost there."

"Where's your car?" I moaned. "Did you run?"

"Yes."

I groaned and buried my head in his chest " If I die, tell Lissa that it's all your fault."

"You're not going to die." He said sternly."Stay with me."

"It's not like you're gonna stay with me. Where's Tasha anyways?"

He held me tighter " I'm not leaving. I'm staying with you."

"You don't have to stay with me because I'm having your baby."

"I love you Roza." He whispered and said something in russian.

_**What do you think so far? REVIEW! THXXX FOR READING!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_** THANKS EVEYRONE FOR REVIEWING! I LOVE LOVE LOVE REVIEWS! And I'm so glad you guys enjoyed the first chapter! The second chapter is slightly shorter, but I hope it's not too bad , here you go...**_

Dr Olendzki told me that my baby was fine, I didn't have any serious injuries apart from a few huge bruises on my back and legs. Dr Olendski sent me back to my room after prescribing some prenatal vitamins and ordering Dimitri to make me rest in bed for at least two days. But of course, I didn't listen to her.

"Roza. Are you done?" Dimitri asked, he was standing next to my bed with his back to me while I took off my red dress and shuffled through my closet for something casual to wear.

"You don't have to turn away. It's not like there's anything you haven't seen." I told him, purposely taking my own sweet time shifting through each of my clothes one by one.

He cleared his throat and kept quiet.

I rolled my eyes and quickly slipped on a tight black tank top. "Pass me my leather pants please, it's next to you on the bed."

Dimitri turned around slowly and gawked at me.

I smiled at him "See anything you like?"

"Roza." His voice was strained and he avoided my half naked body, fixing his gaze somewhere over my head. "Um. Your leather pants , yeah." He mumbled something in russian and quickly grabbed my pants, tossing them to me without looking.

"Geez." I pulled my pants on and walked over to him. "I'm already pregnant with your baby, what else can happen?" I trailed my fingers over his amazing biceps and felt him shiver.

"Rose." He suddenly seized my wrists and looked into my eyes with a grim look. "We have to keep this a secret until you graduate , ok?"

"Of course. I know."

"You know we can't be together." I was taken aback by that.

"But why? You said you'd never leave me!" I leaned closer to him."Please Dimitri, I need you."

"Rose. Stop. Do you still want to protect Lissa? If you do, do you want to be like your mother? Do you want your child to feel unwanted and resent you? Stop being so childish and think for a second ok?" His words hit me like a punch in the gut.

Leave it to Dimitri to say all the serious crappy negative stuff. Of course I still wanted to protect Lissa. Ofcourse I didn't want my child to feel the way I felt. But the thought of having a little Dimitri in my arms sent a little warm flutter through my heart. It would part of me and part of him. But looking up at Dimitri's serious mentor face, it seemed like he didn't want our baby. Since I love him, I wasn't going to force anything on him.

"So… You, you think I should get and abortion?" I whispered, my voice cracked at the end. Stupid hormones.

Seeing that his words had hurt me , Dimitri sighed and put a hand on my cheek. "I'm sorry Roza."

I swallowed and nodded, enjoying the warmth of his palm and resisting the urge to kiss him.

"You know." He said gently "I used to think that my job was everything, that I should always put the moroi first, that only they're important. But now, you're the most important thing in my life. I tried to fight my feelings for you, really hard." He kissed my cheek softly and caressed my face with both hands. "I love you Roza and i'd happily give up everything for you and our baby."

I felt like crying but managed to stop myself. "How about Lissa?"

"You'll have to choose one. Either have the baby and we'll get married or you protect Lissa and I protect Tasha."

I frowned " Why Tasha? Can't we both protect Lissa?"

"You know why we can't." He let his hands drop to his sides and walked to the door of my room. "Think about it , it's your choice."He said and left the room.

I sat on my bed for a long time, just gazing out the window. Suddenly, I was sucked into Lissa's mind.

Ugh. I've got to figure out a way to control this stuff.

"Lissa." Christian whispered. He was holding her hand and they were walking through some forest. "You sure you don't want to go back? I'm sure Rose can take care of herself."

What the hell?

"Look." Lissa turned to him angrily "You don't have to be here if you don't want to. I know you don't really like Rose but she's run away and…" She huffed, rubbing her eyes wearily." Pregnant. Gosh. I can't believe she didn't tell me."

"It's dangerous here. It's still night time and there may be strigoi lurking around here." He warned her.

With that, I was out of her mind and running out of my dorm to Dimitri's room. I knocked on his door and it swung open, he wasn't inside. Not bothering to wait for him, I grabbed the silver stake that I had learned from past visits was in his drawer and sped off to the school's East entrance. I knocked out the two guardians guarding the gate once again.

I could feel Lissa near me as I tore through the forest. "Lissa!" I shouted. "Lissa!"

A scream broke through the silence in the forest and I picked up my speed. The scream wasn't Lissa's though, it sounded like a boy… Christian.

I found them near some creepy willow trees. Christian was trying to burn a strigoi with fire and Lissa was staring at them wide eyed. The strigoi didn't look very old or strong, he was just slightly taller than me. Without thinking, I ran up to him and shoved the silver stake into his heart.

"Rose!" Lissa cried.

"Hey." I say, dropping the stake to hug her. "You ok?"

She pulled back and smiled at me "Of course i'm ok. You always keep me safe."

I smiled back at her, immediately feeling better.

"Rose…." Lissa said uneasily "Are you…um pregnant?"

I suddenly felt super self conscious and shrugged. "Yeah , it's no big deal. Im going to have an abortion." Which of course was untrue but I didn't want to make a big deal of it in front of Christian , I was going to talk about it with Lissa later but infornt of Christina, I was staying badass just incase Mia asks him about me.

There was a loud thud behind us and we looked back at Dimitri. His face was shocked and a silver stake lay by his foot.

"Dimi-" I started to say. He held up his hand and turned to Lissa and Christian.

"I'm here to take the two of you back to school."

"Di-" I started again but he cut me off.

"Ms Hathaway, is there anything you want to add to what I just said?"

"Um. No."

"Good, then stop talking." He took Lissa and Christian's arms and dragged them back to school. The sun started to rise when we were back inside school grounds , so Lissa and Christian hurried back to their rooms, leaving me and Dimitri standing alone outside. "So, abortion huh?" He said after awhile of uncomfortable silence which was rare between us.

"No, Dimitri, I-" He cut me off again.

"You don't have to explain."

"I do, Dimi-" He cut me off again.

"I told you. It's your choice, you don't have to explain."

Why does he keep cutting me off? I was getting super pissed at him. "Dang it! Will yo shut the hell up and listen to me for a minute?" I shouted. Anger swelled up in me threatening to cause me to harm someone but then faded and I started tearing up. "I already told you that I love you! You promised that you would stay with me! Why are you so eager to let me go huh? I guess after all this time you still think of me as a student, as a child , or maybe you're just bored of me. I bet you've never even loved me." I knew I was being a little overrated and the furious look on his face proved it.

"Stop!" He growled. "Don't tell how I feel!" He seized my arms and pushed me against the wall, his lips crashing down onto mine. I kissed him back , feeling his anger and smelling his after wash , my hands slid down his soft brown hair, releasing the ponytail. I was the one who pulled back.

"I've made my decision." I told him.

_** NOT TOO BAD ? REVIEW LIKE CRAZY! THEY'RE WHAT KEEPS ME GOING! Reviews tell me that someone's reading my story , I don't want to write something that no one wants to read! So review if you want me to keep updating! THXXXX! **_


	3. Chapter 3

I'm SOOOOOO sorry that I didn't update for so long. I'm SOOOOO SORRY.

I was kinda stuck and wanted to stop writing this story , but I got so many lovely reviews so I thought that maybe I should try and keep writing. So... here goes:

(I made this chapter longer )HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS!

___**"I**_'ve made my decision." I told him.

He looked down at me , warm arms wrapped around me securely , brown eyes filled with so much passion and love it made my heart melt. I sighed , wishing we could just stay like this forever.

But I had to make a decision. I imagined leaving with Dimitri , going somewhere where there was only the two of us. No rules to bound us. Just us. Free and happy. But then I imagined Lissa with someone else as a guardian , I felt my heart twist. Would she be happy? Would she hate me for leaving her? What if something happened to her? I remembered how she had risked her life to find me earlier. She brought me back from the dead. I owed my life to her.

_I knew what my choice was._

_They come first._

"I'll be a guardian." I whispered, voice cracking at the end. "I can't just leave her." I looked into his eyes , hoping he would understand me.

Of course he did. He always did. I was slightly disappointed , I had hoped for him to try and change my mind. But Dimitri always did the right thing and this time it was no different. "Ok." He said , slowly unwrapping his arms and giving me a tender kiss on my forehead. "It's the right choice, Roza." He told me gently .

After gazing into each other's eyes for a few minutes , we turned away from each other and walked away in different directions.

I felt sad and hollow , like part of me was gone. I guess part of me was gone. I desperately wanted to turn around and run to him. To kiss him one last time and tell him how much I love him, but I was too afraid that I would change my mind. I started repeating the guardian mantra over and over in my head: _they come first._

Those words were really starting to annoy me.

_**"**__**W**_hat the heck?!" I stared at the name on the packet's cover : Christian Ozera. "This is a mistake! I'm supposed to be with Lissa!"

I was mad and my pregnancy hormones weren't helping. I fumed and stormed over to Alberta and Dimitri. They were chatting about something administrative and didn't notice me right away.

Dimitri glanced at me first. "Do you have a problem , Miss Hathaway?" For some reason , seeing him made me even more angry.

I nearly shoved the packet in his face, but managed to control myself. " What is this?" I demanded.

Alberta seemed confused , but Dimitri's expression showed me that he had been expecting this. "It's your assignment , Miss Hathaway." Alberta said.

"No." I said through gritted teeth. " This is someone else's assignment. I'm supposed to be with Lissa!" I tossed the packet on the floor where it made a loud smack.

Alberta narrowed her eyes , she said a bunch of stuff about rules and guarding people I don't like and don't know , blah blah blah. I didn't care. I didn't want to listen. I was tired of following rules -not that I followed them a lot.

"Look." I kicked my packet across the floor and scowled at Alberta. "You are out of your mind if you think I'm guarding Christian Ozera."

"Rose!" Dimitri snapped. "You're out of line. You do not speak to your instructors like that." He grabbed my arm tightly and firmly but not enough to hurt. "I'll deal with her." He told Alberta. She nodded and he dragged me away.

I was on the verge of tears as we walked outside. Anger and frustration boiled inside me. I had a pounding headache that just wouldn't go away. "Dimitri. Wait." I croaked out , resting my weight against him. Black spots danced across my vision. The black spots looked like ghosts. They were grabbing at me and pointing at me. They looked pretty harmless , but a few familiar faces freaked me out. Mason was there , Lissa's parents were there and those who had died during the strigoi attack were there. I started panicking.

"Roza?" Dimitri was staring at me with concern. "Are you okay? I'll take you to your room if you want. I need to go replace the wards with Aberta. "

I couldn't reply. I started screaming. "Tell them to go away!" I yelled. "Just go away! Leave me alone!"

Dimitri's warm hands gripped my shoulders , strong and steady like always , it made me feel safer and less alone , but the ghosts were still there. "Tell them to go away! Please! Go away!" I was sobbing and yelling hysterically.

"I guess they'll have to replace the wards without me." Dimitri said more to himself than to me. He gently picked me up in his arms and started carrying me somewhere.

"Where?" I managed to whisper after my headache got better.

" Somewhere. " He walked for quite sometime until we reached a cabin at the edge of campus. He pushed open the door with one hand and held me firmly with the other. It was dark inside , he lit a few kerosene lanterns and set me down on a bed covered with a soft quilt.

My headache was clearing, the ghosts were already gone. Dimitri sat down on the bed beside me , looking down at me worriedly. "Are you okay?" He asked, carefully wiping a tear under my right eye with his thumb.

I shook my head and grabbed his hand. "No. I'm not." I said truthfully.

He put a hand on my cheek and I closed my eyes , relaxing to the smell and warmth of him. All my pent up anger and sadness started melting away. "Don't leave me" I whispered. He was the only who could calm me down. The only one who made me feel safe. I needed him more than anything.

"I won't." He shifted closer to me , putting my head on his lap. "I'll always be with you." His hand slid under my shirt and rested on my bare stomach where a small bump was beginning to grow. "Both of you."

Then, I realized how wrong the decision I had made earlier was. They don't come first.

_Dimitri comes first._


End file.
